


The pictures tell the story

by Denois



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Canon Compliant, First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M, Magical Tattoos, Minor or background other characters, Mostly Fluff, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:08:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25376674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Denois/pseuds/Denois
Summary: The dark red and black lines stretched across Dex’s skin.  It wasn't the first tattoo that had appeared in his skin, most everyone had a few by the time they were his age. There was no real way of knowing when or why they would appear. Some people’s tattoos all showed up after significant events, a sort of commemoration. Some people’s showed up before significant events, nearly prophetic and guiding (if the person could understand them). Some were so abstract it was anyone’s guess what they referenced.Dex was lucky. His tattoos tended to make sense. They tended to appear after he’d made up his mind about things.
Relationships: Derek "Nursey" Nurse/William "Dex" Poindexter
Comments: 15
Kudos: 210





	The pictures tell the story

**Author's Note:**

> This is all [Lukutoukka's](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lukutoukka) fault for dropping [This link](https://just0nemorepage.tumblr.com/post/143454897792/badjujuboo-alakeeffectgirl-what-if-tattoos) into a discord chat and making me rethink how I was going to do a NurseyDex fic based on the song that inspired Dex's tats. (Spoiler, I'll probably still do the other version too.)
> 
> Blame also needs to land on [Draskireis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/draskireis) for a beta on content and being a shameless enabler. (Any typos are all on me for this one).

The dark red and black lines stretched across Dex’s skin. It wasn't the first tattoo that had appeared on his skin, most everyone had a few by the time they were his age. There was no real way of knowing when or why they would appear. Some people’s tattoos all showed up after significant events, a sort of commemoration. Some people’s showed up before significant events, nearly prophetic and guiding (if the person could understand them). Some were so abstract it was anyone’s guess what they referenced. 

Dex was lucky. His tattoos tended to make sense. They tended to appear after he’d made up his mind about things. 

They just didn’t always wait for him to realize that he’d made a decision.

His fingers lightly skimmed the lines of the new tattoo before he moved his hand over to press on the blue and teal of the owl that represented his uncle. 

Tattoos were easily covered. Their meaning was not easily ignored. He knew what he had to do, what he'd already decided. He just had to follow through, and hope it worked out.

* * *

The tattoos were easily covered. There were options for every climate and every style. There were adhesive covers, clothes, accessories, even fake tattoos that could be used to obscure a real tattoo's design or meaning. 

It was acceptable, polite even, to keep all your tattoos covered in public. Some people didn't: punks would show nearly any tattoo, some military vets showed ones related to their squad, etc. There was even a trend of soccer moms displaying tattoos related to their kids. Such a trend that it made Dex wonder if they weren't inked by a person instead of the universe or whatever.

Still, it wasn't necessarily _rude_ to show your tattoos, but it wasn't especially common. And it was very rude to try to see someone's tattoos without their permission or to ask about ones you hadn't been shown.

When Nursey showed up for the first day of practice with his arms bare and a tattoo showing below his sleeve, it was an intentional statement. 

Some people believed that tattoos were related to soulmates. Some couples that stayed together for decades had matching or similar tattoos, which is probably what made the idea crop up in the first place. There were a million different theories on how tattoo style or content or anything might indicate a soulmate match. They were all very vague and absolutely none of them managed to agree with any of the others about what about the tattoos was supposed to indicate a soulmate match. Dex figured that couples that stayed together a long time just went through a lot of the same stuff so it made sense that they'd end up with some tattoos for the same events.

Nursey seemed like the kind of guy who believed in soulmates. It made sense that he'd show off one of his tattoos so people could see if there were similarities. 

Dex didn't check his tattoos to see. 

He knew what his tattoos looked like. He knew what they were for.

Even if they did end up with a similar tattoo someday, they both played hockey, they were both d-men. It wouldn't mean anything.

It wouldn't.

His fingernails dug into his palm.

* * *

Nursey never stopped showing his tattoo. He never covered it unless it was under his uniform or it was too cold for short sleeves. 

Sometimes Dex thought about it.

Not to compare. Just, thought about it. Were all of Nursey's tattoos like that one? Big, bold, stark black and gray with geometric lines?

It was rude to ask about tattoos that weren't shown to you intentionally. Dex didn't ask.

Dex didn't ask what the exposed tattoo meant. Nursey never volunteered the information. 

When other people asked (at least, when Dex was around), Nursey quoted a bit of vague poetry and smiled like it explained everything.

It explained nothing.

* * *

Dex and Nursey were friends. They were close friends. They were best friends. He and Chowder and Nursey probably all had some similar tattoos. 

He didn't get a new tattoo after starting at Samwell until after the season was over. Until after they lost at the last minute in the last game of the last chance Jack had to win an NCAA championship. Until after he'd thrown his helmet into an empty room, after Chowder had cried, after Nursey had reached out to them and they'd all found comfort in the simple touch of a friend's hand. 

It wasn't because of the game. It wasn't because of the amazing championship run, that was still a highlight of his life even though it ended in defeat. 

It was about the team. It showed up after the final team dinner when Ransom and Holster were announced as joint captains due to a tie and some obscure reason why the NCAA would allow it that the coaches hadn't seemed to understand even as they explained it. He wasn't sure exactly when it appeared. He didn't see it until after they'd discovered they had new matching C tattoos. 

He didn't see it until after Nursey wrapped his arms around him and Chowder. "Wouldn't it be sick if we all ended up with matching Frog tattoos?"

That night, he got ready for bed and ghosted his fingers over the new dark lines of crossed hockey sticks. 

None of his tattoos were frogs.

* * *

No new tattoos appeared on Dex's body during his entire Sophomore year. 

He'd thought one might, when he'd worked his ass off for dibs. Or maybe when he'd helped Lardo transfer her responsibilities to a new manager to prepare for graduation. Or even when he'd made the decision to ask Lardo for dibs directly. 

None appeared.

* * *

Nursey showed up to their room wearing a tank top. His tattoo was larger. Or there was another tattoo connected to it. Or something. Either way, Nursey apparently wanted to show off the new portion as well.

Nursey showed up to their room with a grin. Nursey showed up with a chirp. Nursey showed up with a mission. 

To drive Dex out of the room.

Dex wasn't planning on letting that work. He could carve out a space for himself. He didn't need much. Just a tiny little space. 

But Nursey was always there.

He liked Nursey. He was friends with Nursey. He wanted to be around Nursey. 

But he just needed a tiny little space.

"You really are planning to run me out of the room."

"Ch'yeah. Well, either you'll move out or you'll fall in love with me." Nursey was grinning when he said it. 

Dex's hand clenched reflexively by his side. "I'm not going to fall in love with you, Nurse." 

Nursey looked away at that, idly scratching his arm. "Then you'll probably move out before too long. You've lasted longer than I expected. That's for sure."

Dex wanted to explain himself. He wanted to explain the reasons why he needed to be close to the team. The reasons why he couldn't afford to move out of the Haus. The reasons why he couldn't fall in love with Nursey. But it wouldn't help anything. 

So he let himself get distracted by the ink under Nursey's nails. 

"Your tattoo got bigger over the summer." 

Nursey's fingers stopped scratching and wrapped around the tattoo, as though he suddenly wanted to cover it after exposing it for more than two years. "Yeah, well. Sometimes things grow even when you don't want them to." 

Dex nodded. "I'll move out of the room." 

He didn't wait for Nursey's response, just went down to the kitchen and told Bitty and Ford that he was going to move to the basement. When he returned to the room, Nursey's room now, Nursey was in the same spot, staring at him with wide eyes.

"I'm going to move to the basement." He sat back down where he'd been before. 

"Chill. Why?"

Dex ignored the question. The easiest way to answer was to do what he'd decided to do when he walked downstairs. "We've never talked about our tattoos."

"No shit, Poindexter. Do yo-" Nursey cut himself off and looked away.

Dex still knew what he was going to say. He'd heard it from other people. He kept all his tattoos covered. Well covered. They were important to him, they connected him to important people and places in his life. But he didn't have to share everything with other people. _Do you even have tattoos?_ As though nothing of import could have happened in his life. 

At least Nursey had the position of being his best friend to wonder about the lack of sharing. Chowder had shared some of his. Mostly sharks. 

He was pretty sure Nursey'd shared some of his other tattoos with Chowder. 

Dex nodded and pulled off his flannel, then the undershirt, and then the adhesive cover ups. He touched his shoulder, twisting so that Nursey could see the back of it. 

"This one's for the ocean. The mighty sea. Mischief, gold, and piracy. Well, the connection with my uncle and earning my keep. My first job. Paid for hockey. Over a decade working on a boat. Gotta respect the sea."

Nursey looked at it, but he still looked like he was struggling to be chill while confused about what Dex was doing. 

Dex ran his fingertips over his ribs, following the curve of the owl there. "This one's for the man who raised me. Uncle David taught me about sacrifice and bravery. " 

"Your uncle...."

Dex nodded, but moved on. He could answer questions about his family later. If Nursey still wanted to ask them. "I've got a couple for hockey. The spoked B for the Bruins, a puck when I started playing, and these sticks appeared a couple of years ago after our first season together." He touched them each in turn, twisting when necessary so that Nursey could see them.

"Got some on my legs and stuff, mostly just random ones from growing up."

"Chill. Nice story. Sick tats."

Dex rolled his eyes and then stood up. There was no way to do the next part without being awkward. So he just needed to get it over with.

"You asked why I decided to move to the basement. I live in the basement now because you have to have the option to throw me out of your room after I show you my next tattoo." Dex swallowed and started unbuttoning his jeans.

"I thought you said you weren't going to fall in love with me, Poindexter?" 

Apparently, Nursey was defaulting to chirping to deal with whatever he was thinking because when Dex glanced over briefly, Nursey had an eyebrow raised and was grinning. It almost looked natural. 

"I'm not." Dex pushed his jeans down a bit, just enough that he could pull the side of his boxer briefs down and remove the adhesive to expose the tattoo on the side of his left hip. 

The rose was an intricate spiral of black and red and gold lines. The gold were relatively new. He hadn't realized tattoos could have that color. But it was still just a frame for the heart of the tattoo. Derek. Nursey's name written on Dex's skin in a rose tattoo. "This one means the most to me." He looked down at it and allowed the pad of his thumb to brush over Nursey's name. "It showed up after we talked on the prospect tour. It keeps growing. I suspect it will forever." 

The room was still and quiet. Silent and frozen. This is why Dex couldn't share his tattoos while they were still roommates. He fixed his jeans and bent down to grab his shirt and flannel. 

Nursey's hand landed on his arm and he stopped. "What about the one on your back? You didn't tell me about it."

Dex paused. He only had the ocean one on his back. "What one on my back?"

Standing up, he stepped into the joined bathroom and twisted around to look. 

Nursey appeared behind him and reached out to trace the scripting letters. "Your words dropped into my heart like pebbles into a pool." He paused and frowned. "Claude McKay."

It took a few moments of blinking to process what was happening. He'd made a major decision when he went downstairs. When he showed Nursey his tattoos. 

"It's new. Brand new."

"Oh. Sick. Do you think you'll get another new one if you kiss me?"

"If I kiss you?"

Nursey raised a lazy shoulder to Dex's confused look. "Only seems fair that you do the work here. You had my name on your skin for nearly three years. All I had to work with was a bunch of lines." 

"What? Your tattoo?" Dex's eyes flicked down to Nursey's arm and back. 

"Two parallel lines; same trajectory, same destination." Nursey tilted his head. "Carl Bosch, not the chemist. More contemporary than McKay." 

And you just knew that?" Dex shook his head. He didn't understand how people with abstract tattoos understood their ink. Maybe it just made sense to them. Like he'd known immediately that a rose tattoo meant he'd decided to love Nursey.

He understood poets even less. To have an infinite number of lines available to quote at any given moment. 

"No. I went looking." Nursey reached down and took the flannel from Dex's hand, rubbing at the lines of the plaid. "For the poem. The tattoo...." He trailed off and shrugged. "I knew it was a love tattoo. I guess the same way you did."

"It's a rose tattoo with your name in it. What else would it be?"

"I can think of a number of things a rose could mean."

"Of course you could." 

Nursey looked up at Dex finally. "The poem just helps me understand how it's a love tattoo. And gives me something to say when people ask."

"You wore it open. Of course people asked."

"But not you." 

Dex met Nursey's gaze. He wasn't being thrown from the room. Nursey felt the same. Nursey had a tattoo that he attributed to Dex too.

"No. I didn't ask."

"Are you gonna ask? Or are we going to stand in the bathroom talking all night?"

"Can I kiss you?"

"Chill. About time." 

Dex didn't allow the smile to stretch too far across Nursey's face before overtaking it with his own lips. 

He never wanted to stop kissing Nursey. Nursey seemed to have the same idea as he started pulling Dex back into the room by his belt loops without breaking the kiss. 

It was probably going to end in disaster. 

Dex gave in anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> I love kudos and comments, or you can find me on tumbls at [SexyDexyNurse](https://sexydexynurse.tumblr.com/) where I will post when I'm taking prompts or you can ask me to help alpha or even check out my art if you're so inclined. 
> 
> Most of Dex's tattoos are inspired by Rose Tattoo by Dropkick Murphys. Is anyone interested in reading another fic inspired by the same song?


End file.
